I’ve been covering a lot of volleyball lately. I have to admit, I should know a lot more about the sport than I actually do. My sister, Megan Simpson, played for the Russellville Lady Cyclones and for the Junior Olympics volleyball team.

She was very good — or so I was told. In 2005, while Megan played for Russellville, the Cyclones won a state championship. In 2006 they won conference. Megan was chosen to participate in the Arkansas Top 25 Camp, where she won the “Top Blocker” award. She was voted to attend the All-Stars Camp in 2007-08, chosen all-conference twice, and all-tournament once. All that being said, I don’t recall going to very many of her matches.

And that’s my loss. As I photograph and write about these games, I remember all the times my sister was in the paper. There’s a silly part of me that wishes I were able to photograph her now, that somehow I could go back in time, or she could, and she’d be out there playing for the Lady Cyclones. And I’d be right there photographing for The Courier.

Megan herniated a disc in her back sometime during her junior year. She had college offers, packages or phone calls from Tech, Hendrix College, the University of Arkansas, Baylor, Lyon College, Dartmouth and John Brown University. When she hurt her back, most of the contact stopped.

Now she plays roller derby. You know, cause that’s so much more “safe” for her back. Maybe I can photograph her doing that.

Anyway.

Here’s something I’ve noticed while watching high school volleyball. Russellville is well coached. Whatever it is Cindy Jones is doing, it’s working. The girls come out, they work together, they set each other up and they execute. Sometimes, the teams they play look like a bunch of kids were thrown on the court and told nothing further than “hit the ball over the net.” That’s not me bragging on how good the Lady Cyclones are, either. I’m being completely literal.

I suspect, for a lot of schools, the volleyball coach job is given to someone who knows very little about the sport. Maybe someone in the upper administration has the attitude, “how hard can it really be?”

I’m here to tell you, after watching many match-ups, it really shows on the court. It’s obvious within the first few moments of a game which teams know what they are doing and which ones don’t.

When both teams know what they’re doing, the games get pretty interesting.

I think volleyball is a game I would have enjoyed watching had I gone to all those matches my sister was in. It’s face-paced and easy to follow and understand. It’s also a little bit funny when the occasional 6-foot-tall girl smashes the ball across the net into another girl who stands barely five feet.

Russellville’s winning tradition seems to start pretty early. Both junior high teams typically do well. Once they move up into high school play, they’re already used to being a part of a winning program. Winning is contagious. So is losing. Take a look at the Arkansas Razorbacks if you need proof. Last year, the team seemed nearly unstoppable.

And now? Well. I don’t even want to talk about it. I’ll just say it only took one ugly loss for the team to become infected with a losing attitude. Those ugly losses happen. They just do, and there’s really nothing you can do about it.

Everyone wants to toot the Alabama and LSU horn — mark my words, their day is coming, too. When those losses happen, it’s a coach’s job to stop that attitude from spreading. That’s exactly what Arkansas lacks right now, and it’s exactly why they are going to continue to struggle for the rest of the season.

I don’t want that to be the truth. But it is.

Anyway, this wasn’t about the Razorbacks. It was about volleyball.

What I wrote all this to say was this: It’s nice to see that winning attitude in kids. It’s nice to see that in a sport that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It’s nice to see coaches who care about the kids and the program and foster a good, healthy attitude.

My hat’s off to all of you.

Oh, and Megan — I’m sorry I didn’t come to many of your games back then.